DAN WEBER – SONGWRITER & STORYTELLER
That’s right. Dan Weber is the real deal. “Dangerous Dan”, a name bestowed upon him on a cold, wintry night in Toronto by legendary songwriter Tom Russell, is a multi award winning songwriter who tells stories in the same tradition of the great cowboy singer songwriters. 
I just have to list some of the awards that Dan has won during his short time being out there as it’s not just amazing, but totally mind blowing:
- 2008 Best Lyrics, Portland Songwriter’s Association
“Truth or Consequences”
- 2008 Best Singer-Songwriter Finalist
Portland Songwriter’s Association
- 2009 Pacific Northwest Winner
West Coast Songwriter’s Performing Songwriter Competition
- 2010 Americana Honorable Mention:
“Take the Central Georgia Home”
- 2010 Portland West Coast Songwriters Best Song:
“Lost and Found”, Portland WCS
- 2010 Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest, Sisters Folk Festival
(1 of 5 National Finalists)
- 2011 Dan Howell Song of the Year:
“Goodbye to Dad”
- 2011 Pacific Northwest Winner
West Coast Songwriter’s Performing Songwriter Competition
- 2011 Great Lakes Songwriting Contest
Semi-Finalist “Goodbye to Dad”
After hearing Dan’s songs and having had several wonderful communications with him, he and I seem to have become kindred spirits of a sort. Dan & I both have this “El Paso” connection that I can’t even begin to explain, but of course, I’m gonna try to expound on it anyway, being the Jack that I am.
You see, Dan isn’t from El Paso and neither am I. My Mother was from El Paso. As far as I have been able to figure, Dan’s Mother, no. Dan has been to El Paso before. As uncanny as this sounds, I’ve never been to El Paso. I must admit I’ve had El Paso Frijoles right out of the can and enjoyed them immensely, so I guess you might say that’s almost uncanny, but I think I’ll put a lid on that for now.
Dan said this to me in our first email correspondence,”I totally dug that you got turned onto guitar via Marty Robbins and “El Paso”…That’s so cool…”
He continued by saying,”A couple years ago, I played a few shows in Nashville, and at the Opry Museum, they have the gold record of “El Paso” right there on the wall…I just about died and went to heaven!”
With what the song “El Paso” had meant to me growing up (I’m still working on that by the way), I might quite possibly might have died and gone to heaven also had I been anywhere near that gold record.
Dan continued,”As a ‘storyteller’ songwriter, Marty (Robbins) pretty much defined that style for me and I’ve been in love with that record ever since I was old enough to buy the 45…”
Back to Jack: When my 45 of that record was mysteriously broken, I was age 5, the year the song “El Paso” was actually receiving a ton of airplay on the radio – 1960. My parents